source unknown
photo by Victoria Pearson
I have a confession. I’m not much of a trend follower. I don’t anxiously await the forecast for the coming season or the new year in either fashion or interiors, even though my first career was in fashion, and my second was in interiors. I simply don’t give trends much thought (except to maybe silently wish that some of them would end soon!)
Rather than follow someone else’s idea of wonderful, I’d rather find my own.
My own is brought about by experiences and life; by travel or places or people that mean something to me, to us, and who we are. I want to look around our house and be able to read our story in the furnishings, the accessories, and the art. I want to tangibly connect with that intangible story everyday by simply being in our home. Give me a few things that mean a lot over a bursting houseful that means nothing.
In other words, I want the things that matter. When I spotted a sealskin at a thrift store for $5, I snatched it right up. It would give an ever-so-slight nod to a popular current trend, yes (hello, cow hide rug), but it would be a full-on smile-and-wave to those ten years we spent living in Alaska – the ocean and harbors, the boats, the fishing, and the seals. That $5 sealskin now covers an antique foot stool (Ebay win) in our living room, and is used every day.
And speaking of cow hide rugs, they are beautiful, and hard-wearing, and soft on the feet. We had one on our living room floor for a couple days last fall during the magazine shoot. And we chuckled together, my husband and I, at how this little addition was certainly not us. You see, he grew up on a cattle ranch in Montana, so the different breeds of cattle are familiar to him. He immediately recognized the breed of the hide that was laying on our floor (Charolais), and had memories of experiencing sheer terror at the mercy of these ill-tempered beasts!
For our living room floor, I chose a free on the curbside wool braided area rug. It is not trendy in the least. But it’s classic. The colors were perfectly faded, the size was right, and the price was the best around. Oftentimes, it’s that something that’s a little unexpected in a room that really infuses it with personality.
The flow of trends will come and go. It’s the mix of styles, of time periods, of materials, of textures, of natural elements and man made, all pulled together by the common thread of personal taste and life story that really sets a meaningful home.
Do you have something in your home that means a lot because of the story that’s connected to it?
.